The present embodiments described herein are generally directed to ladders and scaffolds. More specifically, the present embodiments herein pertain to portable work platforms.
There are great needs for a portable platform support system designed to provide a stable and safe working platform with variable working heights, especially for working on boats. During the repair or cleanup of a boat superstructure, and particularly during body work such as waxing, it often arises that workers need easy, safe access to the upper part of the boat structure. By the way of example, when cleaning a superstructure of a boat, it is often very difficult to clean the top portion of the structure owing to the fact that no convenient platform or other means is provided giving the worker proper access. This difficulty can be particularly pronounced in the case of taller boats. In attempting to work on hard-to-reach areas such as upper area of the superstructure, workers may cause damage to other portions of the boat or may cause injury to themselves.
Currently, working on the surface of the superstructure of a boat has been done with step ladders and scaffolds. Conventional ladders are of limited utility in boat environments because step ladder rungs will normally be perpendicular to the boat superstructure surface, leading workers to turn their bodies to work on the boat structure while standing on the ladder platform. This will put workers in a very unnatural and unsafe position. Workers can certainly entertain the idea of employing scaffolding on the deck. However, this method is expensive and is not ideal on a narrow path like the boat deck between the structure and railing. Due to this narrow deck area between the superstructure and boat railing, some workers resort to suspending themselves from the top of the structure using a rope. These customary methods of working on high superstructure of boats have been found to be inefficient and unsafe. From the above, it is therefore seen that there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described herein and above.